Hackfall Wood: 23-10-2018

This Tuesday was the last one before the clocks go back and the UK starts its season of long dark evenings. In Hackfall there were the usual autumnal tasks to do - clearing culverts of fallen leaves, clearing vista lines of encroaching saplings, removing debris from the cascades and oiling the benches. There was also an unexpected job awaiting them in the car park.....

Once again a car had taken out the end of the gateway,

A job for a couple of walling experts - good job Anita and Sally were there!.

Have a coffee break ladies, before completing the job. 

And what a beautifully done job it was.

Team Osian and Ken made an excellent start clearing the cascades of debris.

There we are - nice and clean 

(until the next autumn storm brings down twigs and leaves).

It's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge.

 Ruth and David had plenty of work to do sanding and oiling all the benches. 

That is - until the oil ran out 3 benches into the job.

Never mind - there's always next month's visit.

 The vista line from the Ruin to Fisher's Hall definitely needed a hair cut!

Likewise the view from Mowbray Castle.
Why can't vista line plants just stay close to the ground?!

Mark and Ros E. got to work with the loppers up at the castle....

...reducing tall stems to stump level....

...thereby allowing the view to be visible once more.

The vista at Fisher's Hall was much more of a challenge.
The team of two were relieved when a few of the others came to help them out after lunch.

Apart from the masses of brambles that you 
had to wade through there was an ocean of horse tails to cope with.

Now - is this horse tail or an NCV having a bad hair day?

Apologies - there are no pictures of the two teams of culvert clearers at work. We'll make sure there are some next time.

There is this photo of one of the culvert teams having their lunch. It was the last work day that John and Kath will be out with the NCVs until next spring when the caravan site opens again. Enjoy your winter back at home guys!!

Back at the car park we all made sure our boots and tools were clean as, unfortunately, there is ash die back in the wood and we don't want to transport it anywhere else!!

Other NCV news

At least two of the NCVs put in some practice on their veteran tree identification skills after their training session last week. They discovered a few worthy candidates for the Woodland Trust inventory at Mayfield Farm - although, as you can see from the pictures below, this was not always an easy task!!

 Tony did some graceful limbo dancing to reach 

around the back of this likely veteran.....

... and Ros E. went riding astride a high level tree root

in order to get the measuring tape into the correct position.